1-2-15 Is Alaska Beginning A New Year Of Acrimony–Or Accomplishment?

Today, we ponder Alaska's 2015 challenges below -- including less capability to fund energy projects.  We also sympathize with our Canadian friends.  The Calgary Herald's Deborah Yedling said of TransCanada's Russ Gurling that, "three fronts consume Girling’s time and energy — the Energy East file, an activist shareholder and, of course, the Keystone project." Is Alaska beginning a new year of acrimony or accomplishment? ​Yesterday's Alaska Dispatch piece by Dermot Cole pretty well summarizes the​ difficult budget issues and political pressures faced by North America's most economically dependent oil & gas producing state. ​by Dave Harbour [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:39-09:00January 2nd, 2015|Alaska Taxes, Commentary|0 Comments
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1-1-15 The New Year Begins!

Alaska Journal of Commerce by Tim Bradner (NGP Photo-L).   Gov. Bill Walker (NGP Photo, above) and his new administration are still settling in as state legislators are packing up to head to Juneau for the 2015 session. The annual political poker game begins Jan. 20 when the state Legislature convenes.   Walker will be at the table. So will House Speaker Mike Chenault (NGP Photo-Far R)​; Senate President Kevin Meyer (NGP Photo-R)​; House Democratic Minority Leader Chris Tuck (NGP Photo-R)​; and Senate Democratic Minority Leader Berta Gardner (NGP Photo)​.   Alaska Dispatch/AP by James MacPherson.   Forget South Dakota. North Dakota's most similar sister [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:39-09:00January 1st, 2015|AGDC, Alaska Taxes, Interstate Gas, Intrastate Gas|0 Comments
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12-17-14 Alaska Tightens Its Budget Belt

Alaskanomics, by Caroline Huntley Governor Walker proposes reduced state capital budget amid falling oil prices Posted: 16 Dec 2014 08:39 AM PST Another Payment to the Administration's Environmental Supporters? Sen. Murkowski Responds to Obama's Withdrawal of North Aleutian Basin from Five-Year Leasing Plan WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (NGP Photo), today commented on President Obama’s decision to withdraw Alaska’s North Aleutian Basin from potential oil and natural gas activity. “Given the lack of interest by industry and the public divide over allowing oil and gas exploration in this area, I [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:48-09:00December 17th, 2014|Alaska Taxes|0 Comments
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11-25-14 Alaskanomics’ Northern Energy Report (RDC)

RDC Alert! (Send us your ARCTIC OCS comment for our archives!)  Petroleum News reports what the Russians are doing in the OCS! Reader Steve Borell provides this link: Germany overreacted by diminishing nuclear power in wake of the ​Fukushima ​disaster--and now is desperate for more coal fired power!  -dh Calgary Herald by James Wood.  Alberta Premier Jim Prentice sees opportunity trumping obstacles.  -dh Today's Consumer energy Alliance energy links. Pebble Partnership's short term judicial victory; but the jury is still out on the long term result of EPA coordinating with environmental activists to [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:50-09:00November 25th, 2014|Alaska Taxes, Interstate Gas, Intrastate Gas, LNG, Reader Comment|0 Comments
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11-14-14 Can Alaska Avoid A Perfect Economic Storm?

12:15 p.m. EST.  A few minutes ago the Keystone XL approval bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives.  It should be interesting to see what the outgoing Senate leader does with that bill.  See relevant story below.  -dh CBC alerted us that the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the Keystone XL Pipeline today.  (Note: Watch Senator-elect Dan Sullivan's interview with Greta Van Susteren (NGP Photo) last night and, in particular, his remarks about Keystone and other energy issues. -dh) Katie Bender, publisher of Alaskanomics.com, reports today that, [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:51-09:00November 14th, 2014|Alaska Taxes, Commentary|0 Comments
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10-25-14 What To Do About The Alaska Budget?

Alaskanomics, by Katie Bender (NGP Photo).  There is a lot of discussion regarding the State’s budget and the crunch that is coming in the near future if things do not change. In the October 13, 2014 issue of the Bradners’ Alaska Economic Report, three trends are discussed that will cause an issue for the state after 2020. It should be no surprise that the decline in oil production is of concern to many in Alaska. This is nothing new for the state, as the decline started in 1989. The past [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:52-09:00October 25th, 2014|Alaska Taxes|0 Comments
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10-18-14 Journal of Commerce’s Andrew Jensen Fact Checks State Senator Bill Wielechowski

Journal of Commerce, 8-7-14, by Andrew Jensen.  If there is one thing Anchorage Democrat Sen. Bill Wielechowski (NGP Photo) is good for, it is providing column material with his reactions to ConocoPhillips earnings reports. This quarter is no different, and he definitely isn’t making the task any more difficult. • “Yesterday ConocoPhillips announced $627 million in 2nd quarter profits from their Alaska operations or nearly $7 million per day from Alaska alone. On an hourly basis that equates to almost $300,000 in profits each and every hour.” So? Here Wielechowski is simply [...]

By |2016-03-13T03:43:57-09:00October 19th, 2014|ACES, Alaska Taxes, SB 21|0 Comments
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9-29-14

ADN by Alex DeMaban.  Scott Hawkins (NGP Photo), founder of Prosperity Alaska, believes the voting public should not decide complex tax questions or other measures that increase regulations or permitting of businesses.   “Oil taxation is an incredibly technical, complex, arcane subject. It does not belong on the ballot,” said Hawkins, president of Advanced Supply Chain International in Anchorage, providing support to oil and gas, mining and other industries. “Our elected officials spent years and thousands of hours in hearings and hired experts and oil taxatiConon is not a suitable [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:28:55-09:00September 29th, 2014|Alaska Taxes|0 Comments
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9-26-14 “Balderdash” Or Not, That Is The Question!

See This Week's Petroleum News Stories Here Petroleum News Story by Alan Bailey (NGP Photo).  In a Sept. 15 letter to state Rep. Doug Isaacson, Brad Janorschke, general manager of Homer Electric Association, said that his utility had quit the Alaska Railbelt Cooperative and Electric Co., or ARCTEC, in early 2013 because, rather than pursuing cost-saving projects that would jointly benefit ARCTEC’s member utilities, ARCTEC’s sole purpose seemed to have become lobbying for grant funding from the state Legislature. A desire of some ARCTEC members to hire a CEO for [...]

By |2016-03-13T03:56:30-09:00September 26th, 2014|Alaska Taxes, Commentary|0 Comments
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8-29-14 NYT Reports On Alaska Tax Referendum

NYT by Kirk Johnson.  SEATTLE — A hard-fought ballot referendum that would have overturned Alaska’s system of taxing oil industry profits, put to voters last week but until now considered too close to call, has failed by a narrow margin, with absentee ballots counted this week nailing down the outcome.

By |2016-03-13T03:55:23-09:00August 29th, 2014|Alaska Taxes|0 Comments
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8-26-14 New App Tracks Canadian Drilling Rigs! An Alaska Business Opportunity?

Calgary Herald, by Dan Healing.  A six-month-old app developed to track and identify drilling rigs in Western Canada has been burning up the rankings for free business downloads lately.  And the nine staff at Calgary-based startup software developer PetroFeed Inc. couldn’t be happier.  “It’s gotten some exposure and things are working out pretty well for us,” said founder and chief executive Ashley Dunfield. “We’ve gotten crazy explosive growth in the ’patch.” OPINION: The burden of proof that SB21 is the right plan for Alaska is on the oil industry now, [...]

By |2016-03-13T03:55:08-09:00August 26th, 2014|Alaska Taxes|0 Comments
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8-23-14

Fuel Fix by Colin Eaton.   By a slim margin, Alaska’s new business-friendly oil tax regime has survived an effort to overturn it and  revert to a previous tax structure that cost companies more. A measure on the state’s primary ballot Tuesday would have reinstated Alaska’s progressive oil taxes, originally installed in 2007 under former Gov. Sarah Palin and dismantled last year in an effort to lure oil companies to the state. The old taxes were tied to crude prices, and oil companies say they would have hampered the industry’s [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:29:12-09:00August 23rd, 2014|Alaska Taxes|0 Comments
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8-21-14 LNG Competition: What We Can Do To Help!

Is The Alaska LNG Project In A Race With Canada's Painted Pony? Commentary on, "A Brave New World of LNG Export Competition", by Dave Harbour Our friend, James Halloran (below, right) advises his newsletter recipients this morning that LNG Project competition is intense.  This is why Alaska cannot take its resources for granted--cannot just assume that they will be both marketable and marketed.  And, we can help!  In a Brave New World of LNG export competition, Alaska's government and people need to work with and support reasonable natural resource development in the State. [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:29:13-09:00August 21st, 2014|Alaska Taxes, Commentary, LNG|0 Comments
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8-20-14

  Yesterday's Election Results: Scroll down for yesterday's analysis. KTUU.  The outcome of Ballot Measure 1 decided whether Alaska should keep changes the Legislature made earlier this year to the state's oil tax structure.  Controversy surrounded the divisive issue from the time legislation was proposed through the days leading to the election.

By |2016-03-13T03:55:08-09:00August 20th, 2014|Alaska Taxes, Commentary|0 Comments
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8-19-14 Today Alaskan Voters Determine Their Future!

Primary Election Day In Alaska A Historic Day Whereupon Alaskan Voters Will Determine the Future Of Their State and Their Country! by Dave Harbour ​(Responses to commentary) Alaska: Where A Deal Is A Deal? Last Spring we wrote a four part series, here, on Alaska's oil tax history going back to forty years.  We also explored Alaska's current status as a competitive investment climate and coined a phrase: "In Alaska, Is A Deal A Deal?", and variations on that theme. In one column, below, we explored the concept of a competitive investment climate/tax [...]

By |2016-12-22T22:29:13-09:00August 19th, 2014|Alaska Taxes, Commentary, Federal Obstruction, Rule Of Law|0 Comments
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